Critical Pipe Elbow Repaired
DurAlloy and DuraWrap are Used For Emergency Critical Pipe Repair at North Carolina Paper Mill
This paper mill in North Carolina was being restarted after a two-week maintenance shutdown. One critical process pump moving acid wash water was being put back into service, and the water pressure and flow volume created a “water hammer” against the inner walls of the pipe's elbow section. This caused the elbow to become the “fail point” of the pipe, resulting in a massive leak.
The local ENECON Distributor for North and South Carolina was contacted to provide an emergency solution to this problem. The edges of the hole and the edges of the pipe section that came out of the elbow were cleaned using electric grinders.
The broken pipe section piece was replaced in its original position using DurAlloy. The total area of the pipe elbow was then cleaned using grinders with sanding discs.
A four-layer METALCLAD DuraWrap carbon fiber pipe wrap system was used to make this repair. Proper cure times were allowed, and the pump was put back into service.
From start to finish, this repair took less than three hours. The paper mill maintenance team was astonished by the speed and efficiency of this emergency repair.
